MovieChat Forums > Souls at Sea (1937) Discussion > Throwing people off lifeboat, shooting t...

Throwing people off lifeboat, shooting them in the water... not murder?

posted 9 years ago by ath-11
4 replies | jump to latest

Perhaps the modern view imparts too much of a jaundiced eye, but the lifeboat scene where the remaining passengers storm the boat, and Nuggin begins pushing them into the water and shooting at them was disturbing and seems like cold-blooded murder to me. It really damaged his stature as the film's hero.

Yes, he was fighting slavery, and yes, he was trying to save at least some of the passengers, but his actions aboard the lifeboat do not seem to be those of a hero.

- - -

...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana shaped.

[–] ronaldt49 9 years ago

Haven't we seen similar scenes in the various lifeboat movies such as Lifeboat and the various Titanic movies?

There wasn't room for men to row the boat. Having people to leave the boat and just hang on to it from the outside would not have helped. What would anyone else have done? Would you rather drown? The clothing of the day was not conducive to swimming. That means you won't be able to float for any length of time.

Being shot or being beaten away from the boat is not an easy option.

Nothing from the ship was left floating so no makeshift raft available.

Personally I don't know what the correct or humane response should have been.

[–] oreuc 9 years ago

If you follow the dialogue first he had to stabilize the overloaded craft by getting some people into the water. Second he tried to get people in the water to let go of the oars and hang on to the gunwales of the longboat so the rowers could make way. Following that, most of the survivors in the water tried to hang on to the spar which had fallen across the longboat. The weight of the swimmers on the ends of the heavy spar began to swamp the boat which would have doomed all above the longboat.

As mentioned in another post any number of sea survival stories have had people hanging on to a lifeboat then rotating positions with those aboard. You could presume this was the character's plan.

Shooting those who wouldn't follow his orders was tough but probably necessary under the circumstances. The bigger question is where did he get the pistol?

[–] gribfritz2 9 years ago

Yes. They should have all died due to the actions of idiots. That would learn 'em!

I would plead self-defense. Their actions were jeopardizing the boat, which would have cost me my life. Justifiable if you can prove their actions jeopardized the boat, which you surely could due to the testimony of the survivors.

[–] jonkennedy 9 years ago

In The Wrath of Khan (1982), Spock says, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Substitute "needs" with "lives" and there you have it.

What I want to know is where did Nuggin get a pistol in the lifeboat that was dry enough to shoot - and to shoot three times quickly, to boot, in 1841?